My First Meetup
The places where magic happens.
When I started my first job, I was working with Java on an ERP project. I was learning a lot from my more experienced teammates, and I was genuinely happy.
After a year, a new project emerged. The team decided to keep Java for the backend but switch from jQuery to React, a new library at the time. I saw this as a great opportunity to learn new technologies, so I asked my manager if I could work on the project. He agreed.
The beginning was tough. I needed to learn a completely new library while delivering features at the same time. I started reading the documentation, searching for books, and exploring anything that could help. That’s how I discovered a meetup specifically dedicated to React—it was a blessing.
I attended my first React meetup, and it was amazing. I discovered a whole new world and fell in love instantly. The room was full of curious developers, eager to learn and discuss the latest trend at the time: React hooks. Honestly, I didn’t understand much. I was new to the technology, and the topic was a bit advanced for me, but I knew this was exactly where I needed to be. I desperately wanted to be surrounded by people like this.
At the end of the meetup, I met the organizer,
, for the first time. I remember asking him a few questions, including which was the best platform to learn React. He told me that Egghead was one of the best investments he’d ever made.From then on, we got to know each other better. Eventually, I offered to help organize the meetups—especially important because COVID hit, and all the meetups in Milan stopped. Later, when Jaga decided to explore new places to live, I ended up taking over the organization of the meetups.
I’m incredibly happy that Milan has become such a vibrant place with events happening every week. I hope we can keep this momentum going, because it’s in these kinds of communities where magic happens.